Detroit Film Theatre

Cinetopia Film Festival: A Touch of Sin

Friday, June 06, 2014

4:30 PM Detroit Film Theatre

(China–2013/Zhangke Jia)

More than any other contemporary Chinese filmmaker, Jia Zhang-ke (Still Life, The World) has captured the cultural shifts that predatory market forces have brought to his country, charting the sudden and dramatic friction between a nation shifting from Maoist Communism to robber-baron capitalism.

Inspired by four tales of true-life violence in various parts of mainland China, Jia chronicles the unfortunate trajectories of those who sin and those who have been sinned against in a anthology that examines tradition, personal integrity, corruption, and modernity. A former soldier incensed by political graft, a woman betrayed by the married man she is having an affair with, a bandit who fetishizes the power of his gun and a young man desperate for work all become victims of a society that regards them as little more than a cog in the capitalist wheel. It's a poetically bracing examination of China that will resonate with anyone who's watched with concern the growing economic disparities that are engulfing our own nation. (133 min.)

"...it has the urgency of a screaming headline but one inscribed with visual lyricism, emotional weight and a belief in individual rights. You can feel the conviction of its director, Jia Zhang-ke — one of the few filmmakers of any nationality who weighs the impact of social and political shifts on people — in every shot." —Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

To purchase advance tickets for Cinetopia Film Festival shows, visit the festival website.